Dr. George Bey, professor of anthropology and associate dean of international education, has been named the inaugural chair of the Chisholm Foundation Chair in Arts and Sciences at Millsaps College.
Bey will hold the endowed chair for a five-year renewable term.
“Dr. Bey’s contributions to learning at Millsaps include a remarkable record of achievement as a teacher, scholar and contributor,” said Dr. Richard A. Smith, senior vice president and dean of the college. “He has excelled at developing innovative ways of combining teaching and research both on campus and in the field to provide students with exciting new opportunities to learn.”
In addition to this latest award, Bey has been named the Millsaps Distinguished Professor of the Year (2000) and the H.E.A.D.W.A.E. Outstanding Honoree (2000), and has received the Exemplary Teaching Award from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church (2001), the American Anthropological Award/McGraw-Hill Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (2006) and the Mississippi Professor of the Year from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (2007).
“The establishment of this chair is a great event for Millsaps College, and to be named the first Chisholm Chair is an exceptional honor and represents one of the high points in my academic career,” Bey said.
“The chair will allow me to further my research as a Maya scholar, both in the field and in the preparation of my work for publication. I cannot say how much I appreciate being given this chair by the Chisholm Foundation and Millsaps College.”
Bey teaches a broad range of archaeology and anthropology courses. His research interests include Mesoamerican archaeology, complex societies and archaeological study of economics, among others. A leader in multiple archaeological field projects, Bey has served since 2000 as co-investigator of The Kiuic Archaeological Project, which is being carried out at Kaxil Kiuic, a 4,000-acre biocultural reserve in Yucatán, Mexico, created with the support of Millsaps College.
A member of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Millsaps since 1990, Bey has served as departmental chair and as associate dean of the sciences. He holds bachelor’s degrees in English and anthropology from the University of New Mexico and a master’s and a doctorate degree in anthropology from Tulane University.
An internationally recognized scholar on archaeology, Bey has written and edited some 50 papers and more than 20 publications and has participated in archaeological field projects in both the U.S. and Mexico. His most recent publications include “Blanco Levantado: A New World Amphora,” “Introduction to New Research in the Northern Maya Lowlands,” “Ceramic Change and Conflict in Maya Archaeology” and co-authorship of “From the Bottom Up: The Timing and Nature of the Tula-Chichen Exchange.”
The Chisholm Foundation Chair in Arts and Sciences was created by the Chisholm Foundation and made possible by Jay and Julie Lindsey.
In determining the first holder of the Chisholm Chair, the college intended to recognize and reward a faculty member in the Arts and Letters or Sciences divisions who has consistently exceeded the standards for full professors. Those standards include outstanding teaching, distinguished faculty leadership, devoted service to the students, the faculty and the college, and mature scholarship in the professor’s subject area.
